While I sincerely admire the attempt by CARICOM ambassador Robert “Bobby” Morris to essentially say “peace be still” after a week or more of a scathing backlash from the Barbadian public over trade inequity with Trinidad and Tobago, I’m still minded to believe that in the way we relate to our beloved neighbours and business partners in the twin island state, we should be as wise as serpents even if harmless as doves.
Yes, Barbadians may be inclined to keep silent for now after all the furore about not having Pine Hill Dairy milk accepted in T&T for nearly two years, but I’m sorry for anyone who believes we should simply fall back into the complacent state of believing this vexing and unfair issue is over.
A major paradigm shift would have to occur in the land of calypso for our goods or products to be genuinely accepted in Port-of-Spain; and we in Barbados should never forget this.
And lest anyone believe that I’m anti-Trini, let me say upfront that I love sweet Trin-bago! I probably know it geographically as well as I know Barbados, and I cherish the friends and associates I have made there over the years.
But after 30 years of a fishing agreement that simply does not work and which the average Trini doesn’t have a clue about, it doesn’t take years of minute analysis to see that no matter what agreements are reached at political summits, in caucuses or boardrooms, a totally different scenario plays out on the ground in Trinidad and Tobago every time.
Agreements, bilateral or otherwise, on limited fishing by Bajans in Tobago’s waters stretch all the way back to 1979 when I was at school; and if I’m not mistaken, it was renewed in 1991. Since then, there has emerged the Revised Treaty Of Chaguaramas that dictates free movement, but only on paper.
And more recently, at a Press conference I attended in Trinidad in February 2008, the twin-island’s then prime minister Patrick Manning said it was “not unreasonable to expect the signing of a new fishing agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados within a year”. Four years have since passed, and fishermen continue to be arrested and this country embarrassed whenever anyone dares trespass near the flying fish spots of Tobago.
Those incidents always end up being temporarily solved by a meeting of government ministers who make agreements all over again and emerge smiling from meetings . . . and the cycle continues.
I’m convinced that at the political level, our leaders mean well, as does our CARICOM ambassador; but on the ground the basic belief among Trini folk is that Barbados is just another “small island” which has had to depend upon their oil-rich largesse over the years and will probably have to do so ad infinitum.
Any milk, music or material that goes into the twin island state is treated, on the ground, as if a favour is being granted to little Barbados.
“Cuh dear, look how we accept all yuh soca artistes and t’ing!” I have heard some saying.
Yes, Trinidad has assisted Barbados, but haven’t we too done our part in shoring up their economy, enhancing their Carnival and lining the pockets of private sector leaders as well?
Barbadians are tired of the “favour” attitude; and anyone with the most primitive transistor radio could have heard how fed up Bajans were on the call-in programmes all week!
Add to that the thousands of bloggers, BB Messenger users and other posters who commented on this untenable situation which was raised by Banks Holding’s Richard Cozier two weeks ago; and what you have is a litany of complaints about the shameless inequity of a trade ratio of ten to one in Trinidad’s favour – this, according to the song, is murder – and the clinical, no-nonsense business attitude that does not take into consideration average workers.
The latter attitude was obvious and unforgettable in the Almond Beach Village saga when over 500 workers, who were the backbone of the all-inclusive hotel business but had nary a clue about its debt, were sent to the breadline in a day.
Will these things be meaningfully addressed without further shouting of threats across the Caribbean Sea? No. Only if there’s a paradigm shift in Trinidadians’ basic attitude towards “small islan’ people”. Only if they stop seeing us as a bunch of hapless simpletons whom they reminded in 2010 that Trinidad was no automatic teller machine.
But how do we get Trinidad and Tobago to understand that Barbados has survived, and can continue to do so, without them?
One day coming soon; because many Barbadians will be watching closely to see if some other related Trini trade inequity issue raises its ugly head.
